Present methods of accumulating data from a ring laser gyro are relatively simple and straight forward. However, these methods are inefficient in predicting fundamental gyro parameters and system performance. The parameters referred to include the angle output of the gyro in degrees per hour and various error information such as random walk in angle, white noise in angle and quantization error. Random walk in angle is an error signal which represents the inherent drift of an individual gyro. This drift can be either in a positive or negative direction. For example, if a ring laser gyro were strapped down and pointed north, the data recorded over a period of time might vary toward the east or west, rather than continually indicating a north pointing direction. This error tends to increase with the passage of time and is thus time dependent. White noise in angle is that variation from either side of north caused by various inaccuracies within the system. The variations to one or the other side of true north tend to be equalized over a period of time and are thus not time dependent. Quantization errors occur when the gyro is dithered or purposefully oscillated. This error is caused when counting oscillations per unit of time. In a given unit of time, there will most likely be a portion of an oscillation which has not been completed. Thus, the count for each time unit may be high or low depending on where the oscillation was in its cycle when the unit of time closed. This error tends to cancel itself over an extended period of time and thus not time dependent.
In the prior art, the gyro data is gathered over an extended period of time for evaluation. This makes it difficult to evaluate the random walk in angle of the gyro when it is being tested on the test stand.